Grupo Modelo opens world’s second-largest brewery in terms of volume

The Hidalgo plant has the capacity to produce 2.4 billion liters a year

Published on Tuesday, March 5, 2019

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The brewer of Corona beer is set to begin operating its eighth brewery in Mexico.

Grupo Modelo, owned by Belgium-based Anheuser-Busch InBev, has invested 14 billion pesos (US $726 million) in the new plant, located in Apan, Hidalgo.

The plant’s initial production will be as much as 1.2 billion liters of beer but it has the capacity to produce twice that amount, which would make it the second largest brewery in the world in terms of production volume.

AB InBev executive Carlos Lisboa said during an inauguration ceremony on Monday that “the magic begins in the farmland and in our breweries. Starting today, not only will the best barley be harvested in Hidalgo, but the best beer will be produced here.”

Several of the company’s brands will be produced in Apan, including Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob. “I have no doubt that Hidalgo will become the land of beer,” said Lisboa.

Mexican beer production over the last 10 years. el economista/inegi

Sixty per cent of the barley the firm purchases in the Altiplano region — the large plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico — is produced in Hidalgo.

The company also has breweries in Coahuila, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Sinaloa, Zacatecas and Yucatán.

AB InBev’s investment comes at a time when beer production in Mexico has been steadily growing since 2014. The sector grew by 9.1% in 2018.

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